Cincinnati Reds concerned as offence slumps – MLB News
The Cincinnati Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips on Friday, July 6, admitted to his inability to charge up the offence as the team struggles to grapple with the insurmountable challenges. The Reds have recently had tough time getting the requisite support from the offence to bolster the team’s winning chances.
The most disconcerting issue that the Reds are taking into account with understandably big concern is the failure to go beyond a run in their three consecutive losses. The team has had an average of .170 with a run each in every game – not going beyond that.
While a lot of factors are responsible for this sudden slump that is plaguing the offence, the second baseman Phillips acknowledged he had committed two base-running mistakes in Friday’s loss to the San Diego Padres.
"I messed up twice lately," Phillips said Friday. "We know we haven't been scoring runs lately so we've been trying to be more aggressive on the bases to make things happen. In San Francisco, we had the bases loaded and weren't running the bases properly. You have to get a big secondary [lead] to score on base hits, especially on balls down.”
The team manager, Dusty Baker, is following this development with considerable degree of concern given the fact that the team was doing well until last week. The downturn comes as a shock that the club is trying to recover from.
Once the All-Star break ends and the second half of the season begins, the Reds will certainly look to other hitters to do their bid in revitalizing the lacklustre, if not increasingly weakening offence.
"We have some other guys that will hopefully pick it up here in the second half," Baker said. "They're struggling in that department."
In the Reds’ rise on the Division table, Brandon Phillips and Joey Votto have a big role to play. Their contribution has helped the team rise to every challenge. Nonetheless, the team justifiably wants every hitter to show handiness and instrumentality in order to help guide the club to wins which they need more than ever at this stage.
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